She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[WVduckchick]

My girls only pen has 4- 8ft roost poles. They all perch on the highest one. My polish coop is huge, with 3 large roost poles. They all sleep outside on the A-frame perches I made for them to play on. Remember the old Bud Light commercials? Why ask why

Yes I remember. And I suppose it shouldn't matter to me. I just hate to see a white silkie with a big gob of cecal poo all over her back!

 

[WVduckchick]

Ps this is why I like ducks so much better than chickens. They rarely fight at all and easily accept new additions, even if the new additions are chickens, turkeys, geese or other completely different fowl.

My ducks love to "goose" each other, but I've never seen them fight. And if a chicken flies over into the duck pen, the ducks just stand there like "what's she doing in here?...duh....what do we do?" But the main reason that I even have any chickens was because my newly hatched ducks were very mean to their hatchmate turkey. I couldn't find baby turkeys, so I got chicks... and then chicken math struck me hard!! lol

 

[Fowling around]

Here is one can't see much in most of them day seven and they still have 21 to go

 

[scflock]

Yes I remember. And I suppose it shouldn't matter to me.  I just hate to see a white silkie with a big gob of cecal poo all over her back! 

Maybe that's why Amy wants showgirls. So much easier to clean

 

[cppeace]

My ducks love to "goose" each other, but I've never seen them fight. And if a chicken flies over into the duck pen, the ducks just stand there like "what's she doing in here?...duh....what do we do?" But the main reason that I even have any chickens was because my newly hatched ducks were very mean to their hatchmate turkey. I couldn't find baby turkeys, so I got chicks... and then chicken math struck me hard!! lol

Really? Were they just bigger than the poult or what? I find it odd the ducklings were bullying the poult.

 

[WVduckchick]

Maybe that's why Amy wants showgirls. So much easier to clean

Ha! I forgot to ask her if she saw all the showgirls in John's videos? (the guy that fought the law and won)

Amy - I'm sure you saw all of them running around. What did you think?

 

[RubyNala97]

No, not really. Chicks from broody are protected by the broody hen the first few days to acclimate and the chickens get quickly used to them. They don't know the difference between chicks hatched in an incubator from your flock or someone else's. Chickens can be down right cruel to smaller, different or injured chickens.

I think it depends on the chickens too. I was watching my neighbors chickens for the day, a few days ago. A broody hen had managed to make a nest in the goat barn. On hatch day, the first chick to hatch managed to fledge the nest and make his way down to the chicken enclosure alone. A small frizzle rooster immediately took him under his wing, literally. None of the chickens bothered the new born and the rooster kept him warm. It was actually amazing to watch this all unfold. I managed to capture the chick and return him to mom. I will say I was very impressed with the courageous chick and the kindness of the rooster!

 

[cppeace]

I think it depends on the chickens too. I was watching my neighbors chickens for the day, a few days ago. A broody hen had managed to make a nest in the goat barn. On hatch day, the first chick to hatch managed to fledge the nest and make his way down to the chicken enclosure alone. A small frizzle rooster immediately took him under his wing, literally. None of the chickens bothered the new born and the rooster kept him warm. It was actually amazing to watch this all unfold. I managed to capture the chick and return him to mom. I will say I was very impressed with the courageous chick and the kindness of the rooster!

awwww

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Lazy, I am thinking just as you are this morning. I am awaiting permission to share the chick portal door pictures. I thought this would be the perfect time to show them because they are so clever!! If the user allows me, I saved a couple images and I will post them.
Also, my hatch was a few days after Amy's. and I found what she said very interesting about the size of her chicks bellies. So I checked the 7 that I had hatch. All of them appeared to have just finished absorbing their yolk sacks at hatch. Big round bellies and the slightest openings at the navel. They did not eat immediately and I was not surprised or worried. But they did start drinking right away. The soonest a chick ate was about 8 hours after hatch.

That's my biggest concern: water and hydration after hatch. Most of mine are eating w/in 24 hours, some within hours, but almost all of them are drinking w/in 12 hours after hatch. Usuay once hey are fluffed and have good control over their legs they are back and forth to the waterer.

(ovations are messed up again!)


My girls only use one end of my roost pole. Why? There is enough room for all of them on the pole, but only a few get on it on one end and the others lay under them. I cannot figure out how to get them to use the whole pole!

I see no ovations.

Mine all want the top roost. Including my silkies.

Maybe that's why Amy wants showgirls. So much easier to clean

Because they are so cute and different.

Ha! I forgot to ask her if she saw all the showgirls in John's videos? (the guy that fought the law and won)

Amy - I'm sure you saw all of them running around. What did you think?

Yes, I saw them and I almost told him I wanted them...lol But with everything going on, I thought it might not be a good time to say that...lol I want a really fluffy puffy one w/no comb...lol

 

[sideWing]

...and then there were three...

...still can't catch the 3 Stooges eating from the food dish. I sprinkled some dry chick feed around the dish, see if that helps.

Meanwhile, the bator said 97.3F, spot checks on eggs say 99.5F, so I bumped the bator thermo up 1F. Humidity is 29% today.

Hard to bear.

I do think they might have had their brains fried a bit. I really think you found the solution now and I'm excited to see how this hatch goes.

Thanks, I figured things were a tad muddled...;-]

The run uses my house wall as one wall. I could turn it into a T-shaped affair. Alternatively, the layers don't have all of the structure on the house wall, there's a 2nd pen in there with no nesting boxes that I am using for the young ones, and, will keep the roos in there till they go to processing. If I took the wall separating those two coops, I'd have 340 sq.ft. of space. Then I'd have to build another structure to keep the roos and young ones in. At what age do you let young layer chicks mingle with your laying flock?

You could run what you have until and unless you see issues like picking etc. I'm just worried about the snow and cold like Amy. Sexlinks like to pick at each other if they get bored.

That's not what we do. There is obviously some nonsense, mainly by me

, but when it gets serious we have some really good conversations.
I even laid off the

a lot for the last few days.
That reminds me, remember me saying that Sidewing's roo looked just like mine at that age? Then I told him to be careful posting on the KFC thread? Well, they loved him

Hey, Sidewing..

And good morning to you.


I found the KFC thread to be quite amicable.

I was very surprised they didn't tare the little guy apart. Gives me some hope for Capt Knuckles.

I'm going to stake my reputation on this one. 40% for 18 days, 65% at lockdown, minimum 30 healthy chicks. Don't let me down

I have $20 on SCs prediction.

Of course they will. I just think it's cool that we hit top at least once with an informative semi serious thread. I think that is a great achievement for us. And even though we won't stay there because the fun and games threads will stamp it out that we should be proud that we contribute what we do to the community and it's nice to see that it ranking every once in a while. Plus it's fun to see an informative thread amongst the fun and games/social threads that make up 90% of the ranking.

You cannot find better or faster incubation help anywhere on the web. And nice folks that you can ask any question to boot.

It depends what who wants to know. I calculate fertility (which last two hatches weren't hard they were 100%) Then I calculate set hatch (all fertile x how many hatch) and the lockdown rate (how many are going to lockdown x how many hatch) this is the most important rate for me. Last hatch I set 21, I had 100% fertility I lost one at around 4-5 days to blood ring leaving me with 20 and all 20 made it to lock down so my set rate is 95% All 20 that went into lockdown hatched perfectly healthy so that gave me 100% lockdown rate. I NEVER count clears. Usually it signifies infertility or something wrong with the egg and that is something that has nothing to do with my incubation and methods.

I figured they would be eating when they were ready. They really usually do, sometimes it just takes them longer.

Yes, we want to be counting just developing eggs....lol

I take 2 or three KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) 1. Total hatch from all eggs. 2. Total hatch from fertile 3. Total hatch from local or shipped eggs if I have both in the bator.

Thanks for the great insight and advice. My 4.5 week olds are now in a run that has a mesh wall between it and the main run, so they are seeing and hearing each other all the time. My hope in building it this way was that integration would be smoother. My plan is to move the young hens into the main flock the day before I take the young roos for processing. This should make it easier to catch the roos for crating. The young hens should be between 10 and 13 weeks old at that point.

Out of curiosity, I understand why chicks from broody hens are readily accepted, they've been there from day 1. My chicks are all from eggs from the laying flock...does that make them any more acceptable by the main flock?

Others may disagree with this and I'm totally open to a

here but I integrate successfully as early as 4-5 weeks. I give them a place to go that only they can fit into but not with their own water and food. I do keep a GOOD eye on them for the weekend and then keep an eye on their weight and look of their overall health. It has worked really well for me. If I keep hatching then I just can't keep every batch of chickens separate every 21 days so I had to figure out a way to integrate them.

Couple important things:
1. Weather has to be good so that the big ones are out of the coop a lot
2. You need a big yard for the chickens so they can be entertained by bugs etc and not new recruits.
3. I put their safe place in the coop and sometimes will lock the big folks out for a couple morning hours especially when I add new chicks.
4. I have always integrated 4 or more chicks this way so that it's not one lone survivor

Here is one can't see much in most of them day seven and they still have 21 to go

Looking great to me at day 7.